On the Hunt: Word on the street among Alphas and Betas is that money is loosening up. You are making a rookie mistake if you fail to prospect heavily right now! Block off time on your calendar for prospecting calls to tee up Q3 and Q4 initiatives. Sit down with your inside sales person to ensure they are appropriately focused, have the right message, and are up to date on your territory plan. A hot deal on your plate can seem all-encompassing, but when you look back in the Fall, you will be glad you ramped up your early sales cycle activity and won't miss the time you took away from current deals.

Bringing Down Your Deal: While money IS loosening up, good news for everyone, the dynamics of your deal can still be fragile. Fundamentals haven't changed - deals will go to the sales exec who has the ear of the senior executives, who is spending the most time with the prospect, and who is consistent in tying value-proposition elements to customer needs. Do not forget about the clock. Sure, prospects have a great excuse to delay - "With tough times, we're scrutinizing every decision…" It may even be a valid excuse. Still, TIME KILLS DEALS. Use close plans to keep deals on track and "Lost Value" reviews to pick up the pace - better tactics than price-reduction incentives which can hurt you later.

Who Is In Your Patch? Speaking with an Alpha who has sold over $500M in outsourcing deals over the last several years, he indicated he is headed to a major IT conference not to prospect, but to keep his best customers close to him and away from the competition. If you are taking the time to go to a conference - consider pulling the trigger on a full registration fee. You get a lot more freedom to move around, visit with customers, and are perceived as less of a threat if you meet a decision-maker.

On the topic of conferences - and given our affinity for Insurance-related technology, ACORD and LOMA have "joined forces to provide one of the industry's largest and most comprehensive business and technology conferences." There will be over 100 presentations on everything from outsourcing to security, spanning the primary insurance sub-verticals (Life, P&C, Health, Reinsurance, etc.), and with over 150 vendors exhibiting. The conference runs May 23 - 25, in Las Vegas. Check them out on the web: www.acordlomaforum.org.

Separating Yourself from the Pack: The prospect team is talking about breaking your deal into pieces, taking things a bit at a time. What is your competition doing? Chances are they are re-pricing their deals, begging their delivery teams for margin concessions thinking it's becoming a price deal. PIKERS! Instead of being one more "bidder" - get creative, LEAD. Think about this: look for a way to INCREASE the scope of the deal. If you can legitimately increase the value of the deal, reduce TCO, or increase ROI by expanding the scope and creating some economies of scale - pitch it at the senior level. Sure the prospect executives are pinching pennies, but they are also looking to maximize value, and they understand deal mechanics. Improving the value proposition demonstrates your professionalism and interest in helping the customer.

"HELPING YOU LEAD THE PACK"
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